PES 2014: The Dawn of a New Era

KONAMI looks to the future as it reveals new PES series powered by Fox Engine

Konami Digital Entertainment GmbHhas revealed that its forthcoming PES 2014 title will mark a new beginning for the popular series, with an all-new engine allowing for the most comprehensive advance for the PES range since its inception.

The PES Productions Team based in Tokyo have been developing a new approach to football for four years and can now confirm their new system uses Kojima Production’s renowned Fox Engine at its core. The team have extended and enhanced Fox Engine to match the bespoke and complex demands of a football title.

Based on six founding standards, the new system has allowed every aspect of PES 2014 to be totally reworked, throwing off the shackles of previous limitations and allowing the PES Productions team to produce a game much closer to their vision of recreating the excitement and variety of a top-level match. The central theme of fluidity is based on the constant moving of players and switching positions which characterises the modern approach to football. PES Productions have looked at how matches ebb and flow, with player individuality key to a team’s success, and well-drilled tactics helping underdogs produce giant-killing feats.

Working from the ground up, PES Productions have strived to rework every element of play, creating a fresh and energetic new standard for football titles. In addition to noticeably improved graphics and seamless animation, the thrust of the new system’s power has been used to redefine the way football is played on a home system. Gone are the limitations imposed by dated animation systems and AI elements, and instead PES 2014 boasts a central core that perfectly mimics the skill and awareness that elevates the world’s greatest players above their peers.

Six central tenets combine to establish PES 2014 as a new benchmark in football simulations, governing everything from the way the player receives and controls the ball, the physicality of play, and the ‘feel’ of match-day: the rush and euphoria or crushing lows that experiencing an important games can bring. As such, the key pillars on which PES 2014 is based are:

TrueBall Tech: For the first time in a football simulation, PES 2014 centres everything on the ball: how it moves, and how players use it. First touch and sublime control are what set certain players apart from others. The ability to not only read a pass, but to be one step ahead and to know what is needed to gain yards on an encroaching defender. TrueBall Tech allows the player to trap or knock on a pass using the analogue stick with detailed barycentric physics determining the weight shift of the player and the height and speed of the pass, as to how the player’s body will automatically shape to receive it.

Thus, the player has total control in determining how their body is angled to receive a pass, whereas previous football titles present the user with scant options. Instead, TrueBall Tech means that it can be chested or nodded past an opponent, flicked into space or to a team mate, while closer dribbling control is a much more personal attribute in the new game.

The PES series has long since treated the ball as an individual entity, allowing the player huge amounts of freedom to pass into space, run on to a knocked-on counter, or produced short triangular passes to make space. TrueBall Tech adds even more freedom, with the player’s movements worked around those of the ball and, unlike any other football title, as opposed to the other way round. Players will be able to truly control the free-moving ball, use its pace or alter its movement to master close control in PES 2014.

The result is a game that offers full 360-degree, two-footed control within several yards around the player. In addition to steering the ball with subtle movements, there is the ability to shield the ball from opposing players, use deft controls to wrong-foot them, and intuitive methods to master close control.

Motion Animation Stability System (M.A.S.S.): The physical combat between players is a vital part of any match, and the new M.A.S.S. component simulates the bodily contact between multiple players within bespoke animations that segue seamlessly into each other. Rather than a series of preset animations that occur under specific circumstances, M.A.S.S. acts instantly to any situation, with the reaction of a fouled player entirely dependent on the direction and force with which they are tackled. Dependent on factors such as their size and power, players will stumble but instantly recover if clipped, barge others off the ball, and use their stature to block players from possession. Similarly, PES 2014 now has more styles of tackle, as opposed to basic foot in or sliding types.

Tackling also becomes more integral to PES 2014’s quest for realism, with clashes of players utilising the TrueBall physics to ensure the ball reacts as it would in a real game. As players fight for a 50-50 ball, their result challenge will see the ball bobbling into space, or emerging at the feet of the triumphant player.

The integration of the M.A.S.S. element has also facilitated new advances in one-on-one situations. The individual battles between key players can determine the outcome of a match, so particular emphasis has been made on such battles in PES 2014. Defenders will put greater pressure on the attacking player, by tussling for possession, standing back to restrict passing opportunities, or making the tackle. Likewise, attackers are faced with ether trying to outpace the defender while retaining possession, feinting to gain advantage, or passing, dribbling or shooting when space allows. The result allows for incredibly open games, where the attributes and skills of the players come to the fore in personal feuds all over the pitch.

Heart: Defining what makes football so engrossing is difficult. It isn’t a technical thing, but more an emotional hook. Matches can be imposing for visiting teams, as home support barracks the opposition, and acts as the infamous ‘twelfth man’ by cheering their side on. PES2014’s ‘Heart aims to recreate the effects of team support, both on an individual player basis and across the entire team.

Each player in the game now employs mental attributes in addition to playing styles and skills, and can be adversely affected when having a poor game. However, if an individual is not playing well, his team mates can rally round and will work to support him. Similarly, one moment of individual brilliance can produce a galvanising effect on team mates. The cauldron effect of a vibrant stadium will showcase the mood of the fans, with all-new sound effects combining with stunning AI systems to create a palpable match day atmosphere.

PES ID: PES 2013 set a new bar for realism, with its inclusion of the Player ID system. For the first time, players could instantly recognise a player by their faithfully recreated running and play styles. The way a player ran, moved and spread the ball about would be identical to that of their real-life counterpart, and PES 2013 featured 50 players that utilised the system.

For PES 2014, that number will be greatly expanded, with twice as many stars featuring bespoke animations and AI.

Team Play: Via the new game’s innovative Combination Play users can set up a variety of different tactics in key areas of the pitch using three or more players. These players will make very different off-the-ball runs to exploit holes in the defence or midfield, using the flanks, curved runs, or overlapping play to make themselves available. These moves can be preset to key areas of the field, allowing users to exploit defensive weaknesses beforehand.

The Core: PES Productions have undertaken several years of consultation with PES and football fans to reproduce key elements of the series and implement a wide range of additional improvements.

Visually, the game will benefit from an incredible level of acuity, from the weave of the kits, through to facial movement, and a new animation process that offers slick segues from one move to the next, with no pauses or restrictions on control. Stadia will be faithful to real-life, with the entrances to the pitches recreated, crowds that move during the course of the game The new system also allows for a new light-mapping effect, adding a natural look to the proceedings. The flow of a match has also been improved, with tactical decisions made on the fly, and the removal of cut scenes after specific events.

Free kicks and penalties have also been radically changed. Control over free kicks has been expanded with decoy runs added and short passes now unrestricted. To counter, players can now move the position of their keeper for the kick, while the wall will react to the kick instinctively to block or deflect the ball.

Penalties now use a target guide that is changed according to the kicker’s ability and where they intend to place the ball. The goal keeper can now opt to move ahead of the kick, sensing when the penalty taker is not particularly strong.

PES 2014 will also mark the first appearance of the recently-signed Asia Champions League, adding a wealth of officially licensed clubs to the competition; and the new game will also exclusively retain its use of the UEFA Champions League club competition, with other tournaments expected to be announced shortly.

Further details of PES2014’s content – including all-new online elements – will follow, but the new game represents a quantum leap from what football fans have been used to.

“Thinking outside the box on an annual series such as PES is not easy,” explained Creative Producer Kei Masuda, “but the Fox Engine has allowed us to develop such a level of freedom that we are constantly realising ways of making PES 2014 a true representation of football. From the moment football fans pick up the controller and experiment with the close control, player movement and get to know how teams work and move, we are confident that they will see a game no longer limited by technology, but capable of growing with them and constantly surprising with the breath-taking quality they have to come to expect from the real thing.”

“All the materials we’re releasing are taken from current platforms and fully in-game, which is at about 70% completion,” he added. “We want fans to get a true feeling of the actual product they’ll be playing on the consoles most own this year, not some marketing dream. Our new engine and systems are dedicated to the current generation of platforms, which will continue to be dominant in the market, but are fully scalable for future versions.”

PES 2014 will be released in 2013 on PlayStation®3, Xbox 360®, Windows PC and PSP®(PlayStation®Portable).

22 Responses to PES 2014: The Dawn of a New Era

Zzzzzzzzzz. Yawn. We heard it all before, we believed, we anticipated, we got massively disappointed.
I don’t care what or which new technology pes2014 is using . This is all hype , propaganda and marketing ploy.
As much I want to believe it…like every year in the past five years…. I can’t, I won’t , I shouldn’t be fooled again . Or should I ?! :( :( sniff.
Noooooooooooo. Don’t do this to me konami no… Not again….pls… Get it right this time…I beg you! .

Agree with Banayoti. Same bull every year. New this new that ,same result. Online right now is terrible. Probably the worst of any year and yet they boast of an improvement year after year. The updates just seem to make it worse and worse,and its currently unplayable. Nice marketing ploy ,but heard it all before. Not sure you’ll be getting my money this time,as I’ve being conned too many times over the years

It sounds to me like PES 2014 will be the start of a new type of football simulation, one that gives more importance to the direction of the tackle as well as the direction of dribbling, as opposed to the old and tired formula of simply changing the direction of the run and describing that as “dribbling” when in fact you cannot actually do any actual dribbling.

If Konami manages to offer a complex system with simple controls, and the game is no longer about simply running from one end of the pitch to the other end, meaning that dribbling past a defender would not simply be about “releasing the sprint button and then changing the direction of the run” but instead would require more intricate factors such as body positioning and momentum etc, then I will most certainly buy PES this year.

It doesn’t have to be the perfect game (and of course, it won’t be), but what is an absolute must for me, is a video game that offers a new premise or a new promise, as opposed to a video game that is simply yet another extension of a method and a formula and a system that got old about five years ago. I can say right now, without any second thought, that if PES 2014 is just another extension of PES11…. I’m not spending my hard earned money on that.

The demo has been very accurate in the last few years, so I will know if I will buy PES 2014 only after I play the demo…. but so far, it sounds very very promising, as usual, but this time it appears to be for real.

To be honest, both PES 2013 and FIFA 2013 are so far away from what the PS3 console can do, that I’m not really looking forwards to the PS4…. I mean, what good is it to have very powerful consoles such as the PS3 and now the PS4, when the game designers do not know how to create a video game that actually uses about 80% or 90% of the actual capacity of the console.

I mean, PES 2013 and FIFA 2013 are just extensions of a system that’s been in use since the Nintendo64…. the graphics have improved a lot, but the core game, the core fundamentals., remain essentially identical. PES 2014 and FIFA 2014 should not be produced for the PS4 console, because neither Konami nor EA Sports have done nearly enough to justify a PS4 game; before they produce a proper PS4 game, they must re-invent the whole concept of “football simulation” from the ground up, if not, then the PS4 versions of PES and FIFA will just be extensions of Nintendo64 era video games with new gen graphics to lure in the customers.

To be honest with you, I am hoping for the best with PES 2014, but the rational part of me is expecting nothing but another disappointment in a long running series of disappointments.

but again, the new engine is keeping me interested. something like a new engine only comes round every 4-5 years.

what happens though when the next gen consoles come out. will there be a wait of a whole year before pes darkens their door… especially on the xbox one where it seems it will not be backwards compatible???? surely not??

True, fifa changed their engine this generation. Now they have another new engine called ignite. Looks like Pes is still trailing. But I ,like Amatuer, am optimistic with konami new approach to football simulation . Their plans for the new game are very brave and interesting . Apparently they have been working on these new ideas for four years. Four years!! Surely they will get it right this time.

Konami are not releasing pes2014 on the ps4 or Xbox one.
EA are releasing fifa 14 this gen AND next gen.
And you know what konami said? They said they are doin that because people accused them in the past of being lazy!!!!! They don’t want to release the same game with upgraded graphics for the next gen.
Now.. DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE???!!
Konami are already loosing in my book. Unless pes2014 turns out to be the best football simulation ever made. What are the chances?!?

Konami are releasing Pes for next gen, just not until sep / October NEXT year. But I get where you are coming from. Some might say a massive coup for EA . The big masses who are going to purchase next gen machines will want a footy game to go with it , most of them anyway. Now, how many die hard Pes fans buying ps4 or Xbox one will resist buying a next gen footy ? And what’s the ONLY footy game available?!
Just when Konami suppose to win its massive departed fan base back they decide to do something like this. This is both pure naievety and blatant laziness. Complete lack of marketing prowess.

i would be alreay happy if you could edit the whole jersey.. change teams in the master league like on the fifa career mode.. like you start with a team like aston villa and through good results manu offers you the manager job.. the gameplay i think is gonna take a huge step forwards with the new engine.. those small things would improve the game to most people i think…

Yes, FIFA chanegd their engine and did reasonably well, considering their past failures. But the fact that is not mentioned enough, is the fact that FIFA 2013, although it offers decent animations, still suffers from the same game breaking flaws as PES5 and PES6.

Improved animations and improved graphics are always welcomed, but the priority right now is to change the concept, because both PES 2013 and FIFA 2013 work around a system that’s been in use since the Nintendo64, both PES 2013 and FIFA 2013 are shackled by 2D mechanics.

That’s the reason why I’m not even a little exited about FIFA 2014 the PS4 version, because FIFA 2014 on the PS4 version can only be FIFA 2013.05 or in other words, FIFA 2013 with better graphics, and I don’t know about you, but unless my PS3 suddenly breaks down, I will not spend a lot of money on a PS4 console (like I did with the PS3 console) just to play sub-par video games that do not come close to justifying the money that I paid for the actual console.

Am I the only one who remembers PES 2008 and FIFA 2008 for the PS3?

FIFA 2008 the PS2 version, was better than both of those games!! I’m sorry but a new console does not produce miracles, and the fact is, that FIFA 2013 is so very far away from what the PS3 console can really do, that I fail to see the point as to why it is, exactly, that I should be exited because EA Sports is going to produce a FIFA game for the PS4 console?

Had EA Sports pushed the PS3 console to the limit, then I would be very exited by the prospect of playing a FIFA game made for the PS4 console. But paying over $500 just to play FIFA 2013.05 is not something I’m exited about….

But then again, that’s what EA Sports does, they make a business out of the “casual” masses who will pay top dollar for minor upgrades year after year. What I don’t quite understand, is why we have people in here, who are criticizing Konami because Konami will not release PES 2013.05 on the PS4 console; I mean, if anything, we should applaud Konami’s decision of not releasing PES 2013.05 on the PS4 console. If Konami is not releasing PES 2014 on the PS4 because they cannot compete with EA Sports’s PS4 offering and therefore do not think the investment is a wise decision, or if Konami decided not to produce a PES 2014 version for the PS4 because they think there is still much to be done with the PS3 console, the fact still is, that there is still much to be done with the PS3 console, and I for one think that not producing PES 2014 the PS4 version is a wise decision.

The fact of the matter is, at the end of the day, that PES 2013 and FIFA 2013 are so outdated, that Konami and EA Sports could still use the PS3 console for the next two years, and in those two years they could implement a lot of innovative and even revolutionary ideas. I am very exited about the PS4 because other types of video games will offer something that will be worth the investment, but as far as the “football simulation” genre goes I am not exited, because so far, the “football simulation” games that we have seen throughout the PS3′s life, have not even scratched the surface of the PS3 console, so really, why should I expect that the PS4 version of FIFA will blow my mind away?

What can EA Sports possibly produce for the PS4 console this year, if not an extremely disappointing product? Do not forget, that when FIFA made the jump from the PS2 console to the PS3 console, they had already made all the changes they needed to make before actually jumping to the PS3 console; FIFA 2008 on the PS2 was already more advanced, technically more advanced, than either PES6 or PES5, but back then PES was still king because of their reputation, not because PES was actually better. So by the time FIFA jumped to the PS3 and by the time PES jumped to the PS3, the difference between the arcade-like PES 2008 and the more refined FIFA 2008 was shockingly obvious….

….Of course, my point being, that FIFA 2008 the PS2 version and FIFA 2008 the PS3 version were essentially identical replicas, FIFA 2008 the PS3 version had lsightly more modern graphics, but otherwise, the PS2 game and the PS3 game were identical replicas. Now with that thought in mind: FIFA on the PS2, the difference between FIFA 2006 and FIFA 2008 is massive…. On the other hand: FIFA on the PS3, the difference between FIFA 2011 and FIFA 2013 is as close to nonexistent as it can possibly get.

So considering the mentioned facts, why exactly should I be exited by the prospect of a PS4 FIFA game? What has EA Sports done in the last three years, to make me believe that they can offer a PS4 offering that can justify my investment? Absolutely nothing. It is an entirely different situation, when FIFA made the jump from the PS2 to the PS3, they made massive changes to their game; on the other hand, now that FIFA is making the jump from the PS3 to the PS4, FIFA has remained essentially identical for the last three years of development, and many FIFA fans even argue, that FIFA has actually gone backwards in the last two years.

Maybe by year 2016 we will see a decent footy sim on the PS4 console, but I doubt we will see anything “revolutionary” in the first two years. That was more or less the case with the PS3 console, and all evidence suggests that it will be more of the same with the PS4 console. I just hope that for the PS4 console, Konami starts with a strong and original PES game, as opposed to starting with yet another disaster like PES 2008 was.

Yes Fifa didn’t change much in the last few years. But as you said , when they made the jump to ps3, they made it with a bang. Fifa 08 was as you rightly mentioned one slick and advanced game for the then new console using their then new engine. A far cry from the last game they did for the ps2.
Now , same situation. New gen hardware , new engine. I AM excited. For sure.
We will wait and see the impact of konami decision not to make a game for the ps4/Xbox one at launch. But I fear, that will prove to be rather catastrophic .

Actually no, that is not what I said at all. FIFA 2008 the PS2 version was identical to FIFA 2008 the PS3 version. The difference between FIFA 2006 the PS2 version, and FIFA 2008 the PS2 version, is massive, because EA Sports made a lot of changes in their last two years with the PS2 console; these changes served as the foundation on which they based all their PS3 games.

On the other hand, the difference between FIFA 2011 the PS3 version, and FIFA 2013 the PS3 version, is close to nonexistent. My point is simple, EA Sports is not ready for the PS4 console, EA Sports will offer a disappointing product because EA Sports does not currently have a video game that can serve as the foundation for their PS4 games, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that EA Sports will offer something great.

EA Sports has done little or nothing in the last three years, FIFA 2013 is not ready for the PS4 console, FIFA 2013 cannot serve as the foundation for a PS4 game, FIFA 2014 for the PS4 will be a massive disappointment. New gen hardware, and new engine, is not all that important when the concept itself is broken at the very core. And having mentioned the “new engine”; is this why EA Sports has done absolutely nothing in the last three years of development? They were too busy making plans for their new engine to be release along with the new hardware?

I don’t know about you, but hat sounds like something that must not be true. You don’t just develop an entirely new engine, and then just release it on a new gen console without testing it on the current gen console BEFORE actually making the jump to the newest console…. That’s when results like PES 2008 (PS3 version) happen. I am not excited, and I am not excited, simply because EA Sports has done nothing in the last four years, to suggest that they are capable of producing a video game that doesn’t get old after twenty minutes of play.

Let’s wait and see, time will tell. I have to say Konami’s new game ideas are beautifull, on paper, and if they can pull it off, it would be a revolution in gameplay. But I hope they won’t neglect the more important flaws of the game like animations, online, AI defenders, freedom of play, referees, ……..and the list goes on.

I agree, time will tell…. I’m just sharing my two cents on the matter, is all. As for animations and AI defenders, I agree those two areas are of essential importance, but that’s precisely what I mean when I say that “the concept itself is broken at the very core”; you cannot actually fix “AI defenders” because the system itself cannot be fixed, this is why AI defenders are never actually fixed, it’s not because EA Sports and Konami want you to buy the next version of the game, it’s because the system is broken at the very core.

The concept must be changed, and then the “AI defenders” will finally be decent enough to be acceptable. The same thing applies to the animations; you can have the best animations ever, but the current system (which has been in use for well over a decade) does not have the capacity to offer a great variety of animations; so even if you have great and fluid animations, the current system can only offer a very limited number of animations.

The more important flaw is the concept, that should be the main priority; the animations, online, AI defenders, freedom of play, referees, are all secondary features that will improve massively if the system itself is improved.

In any case, it’s an interesting for us fans, as we have seen little changes in the last three to four years, and now with the PS4 console coming out a whole new world of possibilities is there for the taking, if neither Konami nor EA Sports step up their game, a third party is well in position to enter the competition. If anything, I’m excited by the prospect of a third party coming up with a great game, more than I’m excited by the prospect of either Konami or EA Sports coming up with something great. Time will tell.

Same old same old crap… been there, done that.. regretted 1000 times. The fact that FIFA will be on the next gen consoles and PES not, has already awarded another victory to FIFA. Like the other guys have mentioned, most hardcore gamers, and in fact the new gamers, will buy the latest and greatest in the market, and the only option available to them is going to be FIFA. For me and I believe for most gamers these days, smooth online play is a must. And this is Konami’s weakest area. There are a lot of issues to iron out, and I don’t think Konami will be able to do it this year as well. It’s already hard to find a match, lately I have been noticing it a lot, it takes a loooong time to find a match, most of the time u get “no opponents found”. What does this tell? There are a lot less people playing PES, and a lot lot less playing online, a lot have already changed ship. And with the hardcore bunch upgrading to the next gen console, there will be only few casual players playing PES. Hopefully this means less lag for you that will still be playing due to less crowded servers, on the few that Konami has.

Btw, I am getting the new console (looks like PS4 this time as XBOXONE has so far given a lot of reasons to hate it), so I have no other option but to get FIFA 14 (but I was getting it anyway coz Konami, I don’t have faith in u anymore).